Tradeoffs limit the evolution of male traits that are attractive to females

THE GENETIC ARCHITECTURE OF A COMPLEX ECOLOGICAL TRAIT: HOST PLANT USE IN THE SPECIALIST MOTH, HELIOTHIS SUBFLEXA

Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of coexisting lineages during a long-term experiment with Escherichia coli

We may, as evolutionists (a term that I take to mean those who believe in evolution*) be frustrated with creationists, because they so incessantly refuse to give up dogma and take the evidence from nature at face value.

However, some years ago I realized how much more frustrating it must be for the creationists that the experts all but a few loonies believe in evolution, that all the evolution research in universities confirms evolution, and that nearly everyone who aren't a creationist because of their religious beliefs believe in evolution. The creationists (at least the ones who aren't ignorant and boneheaded) know that the evidence is on our side, and that must be excruciatingly frustrating.

* You may refuse to use the word believe in this context, and insist that we say "accept evolution", but then you don't read enough dictionaries.

Pleiotropy comes from the Greek πλείων pleion, meaning "more", and τρέπειν trepein, meaning "to turn, to convert". It designates the occurrence of a single gene affecting multiple traits, and is a hugely important concept in evolutionary biology.

I'm a postdoc at UC Santa Barbara.

All Many aspects of evolution interest me, but my research focus is currently on microbial evolution, adaptive radiation, speciation, fitness landscapes, epistasis, and the influence of genetic architecture on adaptation and speciation.